


Surviving Seventh Year

by CustardBattle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Asexual Character, Bad Parenting, Basically all the characters from the epilogue are in this, Boarding School, Established Relationship, Fluff, Harry Potter Next Generation, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Non-binary character, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Plus some others - Freeform, mild swearing, teenage romance, you get the picture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-05-21 11:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6049171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CustardBattle/pseuds/CustardBattle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a teenager in your last year of school is hard. It's even harder when you attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with a bunch of crazy teenagers, some family members who disapprove of every decision you make and your parents! </p><p>Join Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy in their seventh year of Hogwarts as they try to navigate unusual social situations, shape their futures, deal with their families, and pass their NEWTs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How did we get here?

Albus Potter dragged his boyfriend towards the Hogwarts Express by the arm, their bags floating along behind them.

"Slow down, Al," Scorpius laughed.

"I can't slow down!" Albus replied, weaving in and out of the gathered throngs of people. "It's our first day of seventh year. We never have to come back again after this year."

"That's a fine attitude for you to have Mr. Head Boy," Scorpius snorted. The two boys reached the doors of the train and clambered onto the train carriage.

Because Albus was head boy, he had to sit in the very front of the train. Scorpius was technically not supposed to sit there with him because he wasn't a prefect or head boy but everyone at Hogwarts had, by this point, accepted the fact that Albus and Scorpius came as a package deal.

As they made their way through the train to the first carriage they greeted all of the students that they saw. Albus and Scorpius were one of the best known couples at Hogwarts. It had been quite the scandal when Harry Potter's estranged son turned out to be gay and dating the son of his father's enemy.

Finally Albus and Scorpius reached the front carriage of the train and grabbed their floating trunks, hefting them onto the storage racks on top of the seats. The front carriage of the train was different from all the rest of the carriages. It was a bit smaller and instead of being separated into a series of smaller compartments there were tow rows of seats lining the walls of the carriage, facing each other. The carriage was designed so that prefects could meet and discuss the upcoming year before they got to the school.

Albus and Scorpius were the first ones to arrive in the carriage, most everyone else was probably still saying goodbye to their parents.

"So what is your plan for the school this year, Mr. Head Boy?" Scorpius asked teasingly when they were both seated. Albus didn't respond. "Al?" Scorpius asked, looking at his boyfriend. Albus was staring sadly out of the window at something on the platform. Scorpius followed his gaze and caught sight of the Potter-Weasly clan gathered on the platform.

"I'm sorry, love," Scorpius said softly as they watched the family laughing and talking excitedly amongst themselves.

Albus shook himself out of his reverie and smiled sadly at Scorpius, "I'm alright. It's just hard sometimes, seeing them so happy without me."

"I know, love, I know." Scorpius replied sadly.

"What were you asking?" Albus asked, eager to change the subject.

Scorpius repeated his earlier question and Albus launched into an explanation of some of his hopes for the school and his role for the coming year.

Scorpius wasn't really listening, he had heard it all before. A vision for the school was one of the only things that Albus had talked about since getting his head boy letter earlier in the summer.

Scorpius stared off into space as Albus's voice washed over him and he found himself thinking about how Al and his family had fallen out.

\- - - - - - - - - - -

It had all started on their first day at Hogwarts. James and Al's cousins had ditched him on the train almost immediately. Back then Al had been incredibly awkward and insecure, traits which were compounded by the anxiety of starting a new school. Scorpius had also been nervous about starting Hogwarts, mostly because of the reputation of his family.

Albus had been sitting alone in a train compartment when Scorpius met him. He had looked just as nervous as Scorpius felt, so Scorpius had decided to sit with him. They struck up a stilted conversation which lasted until Scorpius mentioned his family name and his parents.

Albus had looked vaguely horrified and explained his own family to Scorpius. Both boys were aware of the long standing grudge between their two families. What followed was a lengthy discussion about their families shared histories and the ways they hoped to differ from their parents.

After that Albus had opened up more and the conversation had flowed freely. They had become fast friends.

They had stood next to each other at the sorting ceremony that night. Scorpius had been sorted into Slytherin almost as soon as the Hat had been placed on his head. When Albus's turn came the hat sat on his head for ages. Much longer than it had taken to sort anyone else. After what seemed like an eternity, the Hat had shouted out "SLYTHERIN."

The entire hall had fallen into a stunned silence, everyone except for Scorpius. Scorpius had leaped up and cheered for his new friend, shaking the rest of the Slytherin table out of their shock. They began to cheer as Albus came to sit down. Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, the teacher's table and the majority of Gryffindor clapped politely.

Albus had smiled shyly as he sat down, Scorpius had grinned back. As Scorpius was sitting back down, he had caught the look on James's face. James looked mutinous.

As it turned out, the look on James's face that night was a good indicator of things to come.

Albus's parents were supportive of his being in Slytherin however the rest of his family was not. Al and James had never really gotten along but after that night the sibling rivalry bloomed into full on bullying. Al's cousins did nothing to stop his brother and ignored Albus when he tried to talk to them.

Al became increasingly distant from his cousins. He had friends in Slytherin and several friendly acquaintances in the other houses. Whenever he went home for vacations he returned to school miserable because the kids in his family treated him the same way they did at school and the adults did nothing to stop it.

The whole debacle had come to a head at the beginning of the summer after their second year.

Albus had been begging his parents to allow him to visit Scorpius over the school holidays since the Christmas of his first year. Harry and Ginny were reluctant to allow them to spend time together at the Malfoy Mansion because of the bad history between their two families. Draco and Astoria were reluctant to let Scorpius visit the Potter household for the same reason.

Early that summer both couples had caved. Harry and Ginny invited the entire Malfoy family to their annual beginning of summer barbecue and the Malfoys had accepted. The barbecue was a huge event, with all of the Potter's school friends and their families in addition to the entire Weasley clan.

Albus and Scorpius had been ecstatic about being able to spend time together outside of school and Scorpius's parents were willing to put up with a few hours of awkward small talk in order to make their son happy.

The two boys mostly kept to themselves for the evening, knowing how the rest of the Weasley-Potters felt about their friendship. Unfortunately for them, there was quite a bit of alcohol at the annual Potter barbecue, and alcohol tended to remove what little social tact members of the Weasley family had.

Scorpius had gone to the bathroom and was accosted on his way back to where he had left Albus by an incredibly drunk Ron Weasley. Ron had demanded, very loudly, to know how Scorpius had managed to corrupt his nephew enough to get him sorted into Slytherin. Draco and Astoria, who had been holding an overly polite conversation with Bill Weasley about Gringotts, immediately jumped to their son's defense. The whole thing had very quickly snowballed until the Malfoys were having to defend themselves from the words of several angry Weasleys, including Ginny.

It was this scene that Albus found when he had decided to check on Scorpius because he was taking so long in the bathroom. Albus had walked over to where the Malfoys were standing and raised his voice above the din, "what's going on?"

"I'll tell you what's going on," Ron had replied angrily, "these bloody snakes have corrupted you. They're trying to turn you evil, and I won't stand for it any longer."

Albus had looked around at the angry faces of his uncles and his mother, he looked at the faces in the crowd that had gathered to watch the argument, finding his father among them. Scorpius could remember the look on Albus's face as it had dawned on him that these were the people he called his family. He remembered the heart wrenching sadness that had flashed across Albus's face at the realization that they would never truly accept him for who he was. When he realized that the people who were supposed to love him unconditionally thought that he was either weak or evil.

Scorpius could also remember the exact moment that the sadness had given way to stony rage. "I am one of those bloody snakes!" Albus had thundered, surprising everyone. "Nobody _corrupted_ me," he spat out "I am a Slytherin and I'm happy, can't you see that? I have friends, I'm doing well in my classes, I'm having fun. You could be happy for me, you know. You could be proud that I'm finally finding a place where I belong. But no, you couldn't even do that. Instead you attack my best friend and his parents for imagined slights and crimes they could not possibly have committed. I am who I am, and I'm proud of it. If you have a problem with that then you'll have to kick me out."

Albus had been breathing hard at the end of his tirade, staring up at the adults, daring them to challenge what he had just said. The adults for their part were in varying degrees of shock.

Scorpius remembered thinking that it was odd how little these people knew about Albus, yes he was shy but there was a passion in him that ran deep.

Surprisingly, Ginny was the first to recover. "Albus Severus Potter! You may not speak to your uncle that way, it's completely disrespectful. Of course there's nothing inherently wrong with you being in Slytherin, but it's changing you. First thing tomorrow I'm going to write to Professor Mcgonagall and have you transferred to Gryffindor."

Albus had been outraged, "you can't do that!"

"I can and I will," his mother had responded, deathly calm, "and if you are not willing to abide by the rules of this family then you are no longer welcome in it."

"Fine!" Albus had yelled before running upstairs to his bedroom. Scorpius had spared a second to look at his parents before dashing up the stairs after him. Albus had been too angry to reason with, so Scorpius had helped him pack his things into his school trunk and lug it down the stairs.

Draco and Astoria were waiting at at the base of the fireplace. They offered Albus a place to live until the whole conflict with his family was resolved, Albus took them up on it.

None of the spectators had said anything as Draco apparated back to the manor with Albus's trunk and Astoria ushered the two boys to the fireplace. Scorpius had flooed away first, followed by Astoria, and finally Albus.

As far as he knew that was the last time Al had spoken to his parents. He refused to back down from his position and his parents refused to apologize for what was said at the party, and for letting him leave.

\- - - - - - - - - -

"- pius. Scorpius. Scorpius!" Scorpius was shaken out of his memories by Albus calling his name. "You haven't listened to a word I've said, have you?"

Scorpius looked down sheepishly, "Sorry, Love. Seeing your family on the platform like that just made me think of that party. I was just thinking about how little they knew you then."

Albus snorted, "they never tried to know me. Not the real me, anyway. I think that because I look so similar to my father, everyone just assumed that I would follow in his exact footsteps, including him, and when I turned out to be a different person they refused to accept it."

"Bunch of shortsighted idiots if you ask me," Scorpius replied, derisively.

"Yeah, because I'm the only one in this relationship who's parents are too stuck in their ways to accept me for who I am," Albus said sarcastically. Scorpius's felt a bolt of emotional pain travel through his chest. "I'm sorry, that was way out of line," Albus was immediately apologetic. "I just hate thinking about my parents, it makes me bitter. That's no excuse of course, I'm so sorry, Scor."

Scorpius waved his hand dismissively, "It's alright, I know you didn't mean to hurt me. Besides, I'm the one who brought up painful memories surrounding parents." Albus apologized a few more times and Scorpius reassured him that it was alright each time. Once Albus was sure that Scorpius was ok, they lapsed into a comfortable silence, each boy caught up in his own thoughts.

Parents were a sensitive topic for both of them. Scorpius had been disowned by his parents almost two years after Albus had begun living with them.

His story was much more straight forward though. That year at school he and Albus had both been discovering who they were and what their place in the world was. One of the things that they had discovered was their mutual attraction, something they explored throughout the year.

By that summer the two of them were officially dating and they had come out to all of their closest friends, Scorpius as gay and Albus as a homoromantic asexual.

Scorpius had come out to his parents that summer and they had promptly disowned him and kicked both boys out of the house. Fortunately, Albus and Scorpius had formulated a plan in case his parents reacted badly to his coming out.

The Potter family still owned number 12, Grimmauld Place but never visited the house. Albus knew how to get into the house without getting them kicked out of Hogwarts for underage magic and the boys had made their way to the building. They had been living there together every summer since then.

Both boys jumped when the door to the train car burst open and several prefects poured inside. They looked at each other and grinned, seventh year had begun.


	2. Chapter 2

The ride to Hogwarts was fairly uneventful. As soon as the prefects started filing into the train car Albus and Scorpius were drawn into loud conversations about their summer and excited predictions about the coming year.

The head girl was the last of the prefects to arrive, slipping into the car just after the final boarding call. Violet Kelly was a small, quiet, mousy Hufflepuff girl. She had long light brown hair, brown eyes and a very slight frame. She was the kind of girl who was difficult to pick out in a crowd. Al had been fairly good friends with Violet since sixth year when they had bonded of their shared exasperation with their boyfriends busy Quidditch schedules.

Scorpius had been the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team since their fifth year and Violet had begun to date Augustus Warrington, one of the beaters on the same team, the year after.

Augustus and Violet were an odd couple, he was a handsome, outspoken young man who stood at 6'3" and was built like an ox. The two of them seemed to be complete opposites but somehow they made it work.

"Hey, Vi," Albus greeted her as soon as she walked into the car.

"Hi, Al," she replied softly, sitting down across the isle from the two boys. "How was your summer?"

"It was alright," Albus replied. "Scor got a job in a small bookstore near the house. They let him borrow books so that he could write reviews for them. He let me help, it was surprisingly entertaining. I, on the other hand, got a job as a waiter. It was awful, never work in the service industry. How was yours?"

"It was good. I didn't get to see Augustus as much as I would have liked but I did go to the seaside with my family. It was beautiful." Violet replied, smiling to herself.

"Excellent," Albus said, sharing a smile with Scorpius. He then turned to the car at large and called out "hey, everyone, come here for a moment."

The conversations going on around them petered out as all the prefects wandered over to where the three of them sat and formed a loose circle.

"Welcome to the beginning of another year at Hogwarts!" Albus declared "For those of you who are new to being prefects, congratulations on being chosen for this honour. It is our job to make sure that everyone at Hogwarts is safe and follows the rules. You all got a copy of the rules that you are expected to enforce over the course of the year and I have some ideas for possible clubs or things that we can do to make going to Hogwarts even better for the other students. Any questions?"

Albus surveyed the assembled crowed and saw several head shakes. No one spoke up. "Alright, well if any of you do think of any question's you can ask me or Vi, I promise we don't bite, unless you ask nicely." This drew titters from the fifth years and disbelieving snorts from everyone else. "For this train ride, two of us are going to walk up and down the train every fifteen minutes until we reach Hogwarts. We'll go out in pairs, a seventh year with a fifth year and two sixth years together. Vi will go out first and I'll go out last. The rest of the time we can just hang out in here, chat, play card games, do any remaining homework that we have, I'm talking to you, Flint." Albus pointed to a burly sixth year Gryffindor boy who bowed his head and rubbed his neck sheepishly, everyone else laughed. "Sound good?" Albus asked. Everyone nodded and Albus dismissed the impromptu meeting.

The train car filled with chatter again as the prefects dispersed. After about ten minutes Violet called out, "Longbottom, you're with me, time to make the rounds." She stood up and Alice Longbottom, a shy Hufflepuff girl who looked exactly like her father, stood up and followed Violet out of the train car.

Albus smiled to himself, Alice and Violet would be good friends. He and Violet had tried to arrange the train patrols in such a way that everyone would be able to make new friends and learn the ropes at the same time. They had done a pretty good job, if Albus did say so himself.

Albus turned to Scorpius and the two began to talk about their classes for the next year, the excitement and anxiety that they had been feeling over the summer compounding on the long train ride.

Not five minutes after they had left, Violet and Alice burst back into the train car, panting as though they had been running. "You are never going to believe this," Violet gasped out, looking straight at Albus.

"What?"

"Why are you back from patrolling the train early?"

"Why are you out of breath?"

"What won't I believe?"

Everyone started to ask the two girls questions at once, making it difficult to discern one voice from another. Alice caught her breath before Violet did and waved her hands in front of her, stemming the tide of questions.

"You won't believe who we just saw on the train, Al," she said once everyone had fallen silent.

"Who?" Albus asked, brow furrowed in concern.

"Your parents," Violet replied, having finally caught her breath. "Your parents are on the train."

Everyone in the compartment froze for a moment, trying to wrap their heads around this turn of events. The Albus-Potter Family rift was something of an open secret at Hogwarts. Scorpius was the first to break the silence, saying what everyone was thinking, "Al's _parents_ are on the train? This train?"

Violet and Alice both nodded vigorously. This lead to another moment of stunned silence before Albus lept up from his seat and rushed out of the compartment, Scorpius and the rest of the prefects hot on his heels.

As the group made its way quickly down the length of the train, Albus casting searching glances into each compartment he passed, they were followed by confused stares. Many of the older students had seen the Potters get on the train and ushered the first and second years out of Albus's way.

Albus finally found his family sitting in a compartment near the end of the train. Sure enough there sat his mother and his father with Lily, Rose, Hugo, and James. Al moved away from the window of the compartment until he was standing where no one inside would be able to see him.

Scorpius put his hand on Albus's shoulder and Albus turned around to look at his boyfriend. Their eyes met and they stared at each other for a long moment.

Finally Albus took a deep, shuddering breath and turned back around. Scorpius's hand moved down from Albus's shoulder to grasp his hand. Al stepped forward and reached his free hand out and slid the compartment door open. The occupants of the compartment all looked up.

"What are you doing here?" Albus blurted out before he lost his nerve.

Everyone in the compartment looked at each other and seemed to come to some sort of consensus as Harry began to speak nervously, "Albus! Hi, how are you? You look goo-"

"No seriously, what are you doing here? Three of you aren't Hogwarts students, you shouldn't be on the train." Albus interrupted him before he could begin to ramble.

"What do you care Albus?" James responded snarkily, "we're not your family anymore, remember?"

"I'm head boy, James," Albus shot back coldly, "it's my job to ensure that every _Hogwarts student_  on this train gets to school safely."

Harry raised his hand to cut off James's reply, "we are attending Hogwarts this year. Ginny and I never completed our seventh year at Hogwarts and we've decided that that was a mistake. We're coming back as seventh years, the professors have all signed off on it." Albus raised an eyebrow and shot an incredulous look over his shoulder at Scorpius who shrugged in response. "James is repeating his seventh year as he didn't complete several of his courses last year," Harry shot James a disapproving look and James ducked his head sheepishly. "So you see, we are students at Hogwarts this year. You're head boy?" The last question was delivered with a tentatively hopeful expression.

"Yes," Albus replied shortly, "yes I am. Welcome back to Hogwarts, then. I hope you all have a good year," he finished lamely. Albus turned and hurriedly strode back down the corridor, ignoring the sound of his name being called from behind him. Scorpius was right on his heels keeping a hold of his hand as they beat a hasty retreat to the prefects compartment, the rest of the prefects following behind.

When they reached the door to the prefects compartment, Albus slammed it open and stormed inside. Scorpius let go of Albus's hand and turned to the prefects, "give us a few minutes, okay?" He asked, "go find your friends, wander around, I really don't care. Just stay out of the compartment for the next fifteen minutes or so." There was a round of nods from all of the prefects, many of whom looked just as shocked as Scorpius felt.

Violet place a sympathetic hand on Scorpius's shoulder and murmured, "it'll be alright" before turning and wandering off, presumably to find Augustus. The rest of the prefects began to slowly disperse and Scorpius ran a hand through his hair, took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

He found Albus sitting in the middle of one of the benches with his head cradled in his hands. Scorpius quietly closed the door behind him and walked towards Albus, "Al?" he said gently. "Talk to me," Scorpius knelt down in front of Albus to put their faces on the same level and took his hands.

Albus looked up and met his boyfriend's earnest, kind eyes which were full of concern. "My parents are on this train. My parents are going to my school. My parents are going to be in my year. FUCK!" Albus pulled his hands out of Scorpius's and stood up to begin pacing. "What am I going to do, Scor? How am I supposed to... Merlin, I can't deal with this."

"It'll be ok, Al." Scorpius said softly, pushing himself up into the seat Albus had just vacated. "You've had to deal with James and all your cousins every year so far, at least your parents will probably keep them under control. We can avoid them whenever possible and you just have to be cordial to them in the halls. We'll figure it out."

Albus stopped pacing and violently blew air out through his mouth, flopping down next to Scorpius on the bench. "You're right," he said, the resigned tone of his voice breaking Scorpius's heart a little, "of course you are. I just... I was so looking forward to going to school without James, you know? And now I have to see my parents every single day... I can't..." Albus was starting to work himself back up.

Scorpius reached out and put a hand on Albus's cheek, turning his head towards him. Scorpius leant in slowly, giving Albus ample time to pull away, and gently pressed his lips to Al's. Albus melted into the kiss and allowed himself to accept the comforting gesture as it was meant. After a long moment Scorpius pulled his lips away and pressed their foreheads together instead, "don't worry, Love. We'll figure it out together," he whispered. Albus nodded against Scorpius's head and pulled away.

Albus turned around and lay down on his back with his head in Scorpius's lap. Scorpius chuckled softly and began to run his fingers through Albus's hair and massage his scalp. Albus sighed happily and allowed his eyes to slip closed.

That's how Violet found them when she peeked through the door of the compartment twenty minutes later, Albus napping peacefully with his head in Scorpius's lap and Scorpius gently massaging Al's scalp, fondly watching his boyfriend sleep. Violet quietly closed the door and went to find the rest of the prefects to let them know that the first compartment of the train would be off limits for the rest of the ride to Hogwarts.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry Potter stared out of the window of the Hogwarts Express as it pulled into the station. He was going back to Hogwarts for the first time in 26 years.

The train came to a stop at the platform and Harry could hear a flurry of motion in the compartments around him as students got ready to get off the train. Ginny squeezed his hand and he turned his head to smile at her nervously.

Their whole compartment stood up and joined the commotion of putting away whatever they had been doing, last minute uniform changes and crowding into the corridors to get off the train.

Harry got caught up in the excitement of finally being back at Hogwarts as he stepped off the train. He heard someone yelling for the attention of the first years and Harry instinctively looked around for Hagrid. His eyes found Neville instead, standing at the edge of the platform waving his lit wand above his head and shouting at the top of his lungs.

Harry was brought crashing back to his present situation when he saw his old friend. He and Ginny were attending Hogwarts as adults in order to get their youngest son back. Harry waved at Neville and offered him a wan smile, Neville smiled warmly back.

As they moved towards the carriages Harry reflected on their interaction with Albus on the train. Albus had looked so different from the last time he had seen him. His son had grown up. He was now nearly 6 feet tall, broad shouldered and clearly in good shape with a pronounced jawline and artfully messy short black hair, his jade eyes set into a handsome face.

What had really struck Harry though was the boy who had stood silently behind his son throughout their conversation. The boy could only have been Scorpius Malfoy but the shy, pale young boy he remembered had been worlds away from the young man that had stood behind his son. The Scorpius Malfoy he had seen earlier in the day was lean and stood a few inches taller than Albus. His delicate features and stormy gray eyes were framed by shoulder length platinum blonde hair which hung around head in gentle waves. Though he had a feminine appearance, any assumptions Harry may have made about his character were offset by the amount of anger that he had seen on the young boys face and the aggressiveness of his stance.

Harry knew that Albus had gone to live with the Malfoy family after that disastrous dinner party five years earlier, he could only assume that the two of them had become like brothers. There was no other explanation he could think of for the amount of hostility that had radiated off of Scorpius as Albus questioned them.

"Dad!" Harry was broken out of his thoughts at the sound of James calling his name from inside of one of the carriages. Harry quickly made his way to the carriage and joined the rest of his family. It was strangely comforting to him that he and Ginny had to win their son over in the place that had been his home for such a long time.

Harry fell into an easy conversation with his daughter on the way to Hogwarts about the Gryffindor Quidditch team for that year, on which she was a chaser and would be captain for the first time. James had been on the team the year before but was not allowed to play this year because he needed to focus on his studies in order to not fail his NEWTs again.

Harry tried to listen to his daughter's excited rambling but it was a subject she had talked endlessly about for months, ever since she received the news of her captaincy. Ginny observed her husband zoning out of the discussion and quickly asked Lily about the teams for the other houses, a subject she hadn't spoken nearly as extensively about.

"The Hufflepuff team hasn't been very good for the last few years and only one of their players graduated last year, so they shouldn't be much competition." Lily began, excited to begin strategizing for the upcoming season. "Ravenclaw is a bit of a wild card because most of the team graduated last year, so I don't know how good they'll be. The Slytherin team will be tough to beat though," James snorted. "Deny it all you want, James but the Slytherin team is actually really good."

"Who's on the Slytherin team?" Harry asked curiously.

"The chasers are Andrea Parkinson, Blake Zabini and Patrick Flint, Augustus Warrington is a beater, Leo Nott is the keeper and Scorpius Malfoy is the seeker slash team captain. They have to find a new beater since Aiden Davis graduated last year," Lily replied.

"Scorpius Malfoy is the team captain?" Harry asked, suddenly much more interested in the discussion than he had been.

"He has been since his fifth year," James replied bitterly, "which of course means that Al is also the team captain."

"What do you mean, James?" Ginny asked looking just as perplexed by this statement as Harry felt.

"Albus and Scorpius are practically inseparable," Lily jumped in, shooting her brother a harsh look. "Anything one of them does it's generally safe to say that the other one is also doing it, especially since they started dating."

"Wait what?" Harry asked, astonished, "Albus and Scorpius are dating?"

"Yeah, ever since they were in fourth year." Lily said looking back and forth at the gobsmacked looks on her parents faces, "you didn't know?"

"No," Ginny said faintly, "no we didn't."

"Albus isn't on the Quidditch team though, what do you mean he's also the captain?" Harry asked, trying to maintain some semblance of normal conversation as he restructured his entire worldview.

"Albus and Scorpius seem to talk to each other about _everything_ ," Rose jumped into the conversation. "It's fairly apparent that Albus helps create the Slytherin team's Quidditch plays because some of them are sort of parodies on plays we used to use in family Quidditch matches. Scorpius couldn't have known about them if Albus hadn't told him."

"This is all speculation of course," Lily was quick to point out, "we don't know for sure."

The conversation was cut off by the arrival of their carriage at the doors of Hogwarts. Standing on either side of the large doors into the castle was Albus and a girl Harry didn't recognize. When he got closer to them he realized they were both wearing matching badges, meaning that the girl was the head girl for the year. She offered him a smile which didn't quite reach her eyes and introduced herself as Violet. She welcomed him back to Hogwarts and wished him a great year.

Harry moved through the gate and walked into the great hall, taking in all the grandeur which never ceased to astonish him. He and Ginny followed their children to the Gryffindor table. Lily, Rose, and Hugo all went to sit with their friends while James stayed with his parents as most of his friends had graduated the previous year.

Harry looked around the great hall and spotted Scorpius sitting next to hulking, dark skinned boy who looked to be about the same height as him. They seemed to be having a very serious conversation about something.

"Scorpius is talking to Augustus Warrington," James said when he saw where his father was looking. "You know Violet, the head girl?" Harry nodded, "Augustus is her boyfriend."

Harry took in this information as the last few people filtered into the great hall. He watched Scorpius catch the eye of someone coming through the door and wave them over. A quick glance told him that the person was Albus. He watched Albus walk over to Scorpius and lean down to give him a quick peck on the lips. Augustus made a gagging motion and Albus reached over and smacked him upside the head. The people surrounding them erupted in laughter as Augustus put on an exaggerated hurt expression and Albus rolled his eyes as he plopped down next to Scorpius.

The whole scene drove home to Harry that his son had an entire life that he knew nothing about. Scanning the group of people he assumed to be Albus's friends, he didn't recognize any of them other than Scorpius.

He keenly felt the loss of his son in a way that he hadn't before. Somehow in his mind he had imagined Albus's life without him and Ginny in it as miserable and that it was only pride keeping him from coming home. He realized now exactly how wrong that was.

Albus looked happy. He was joking with his friends, he had a boyfriend who he was apparently very close too, and he was head boy. Harry hadn't been there for any of it. He hadn't gotten to have an awkward sex talk with his son in which both of them would wish they were anywhere else, he hadn't gotten to celebrate Albus's academic achievements, he hadn't watched his son grow up and turn into a man.

Harry looked away from the scene in front of him, unable to bear anymore evidence of his failings as a parent and met Ginny's eyes. In that moment he knew they were having similar thoughts and his determination to get his son back returned in full force.

\- - - - - - - - - - -

The sorting ceremony was fairly uneventful, although Harry was struck by how young the first years seemed to him. He was sure that he had been older than them at that age. Likewise the feast itself was a fairly standard affair except for the curious looks being directed at Harry and Ginny from the students surrounding them.

When everyone had eaten their fill Professor Mcgonagall stood up to make the some announcements. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry I hope you all had wonderful summers. A few announcements before we all retire after that fantastic dinner. A warm welcome to our first years and some important rules, which would do well to serve as reminders for some of our older students as well. The Forbidden Forest is strictly off limits to students, curfew is at ten PM each night, you are not allowed out of your common rooms after this time, there is no magic allowed in the hallways between classes and, unless it is in a defense against the dark arts class, using magic on another student is strictly prohibited. Timetables will be distributed tomorrow morning at breakfast and classes will start the following morning. Here at Hogwarts we have a wide range of clubs and extracurricular activities, announcements about which will be made as they occur. At this time I have been asked to remind you that the first meeting of the LGBTQ+ support club will be happening in the potions classroom this Saturday at 3 in the afternoon, everyone is welcome and snacks will be provided. If you have any questions about that you can speak to Albus Potter, our head boy, or Scorpius Malfoy." Albus and Scorpius both waved their hands in the air to identify themselves. "Finally, you may have noticed the two adults seated at the Gryffindor table. Their names are Harry and Ginny Potter and they attended Hogwarts 26 years ago. They never completed their seventh year and have requested to complete their education now, the faculty has agreed. They will be in Gryffindor house and will be treated the same as every other seventh year student. I trust you will all make them feel welcome."

"Once again, welcome back to Hogwarts, I hope you all have an enlightening year. First years please follow your prefects back to your houses, Mr. and Mrs. Potter please stay behind, everyone else please make your way to your common rooms and have a good night." Mcgonagall finished her speech and sat back down. The rest of the great hall stood up and everyone began to speak at once. Harry could hear the prefects calling for the first years and all the friends shouting to each other from across the great hall. Despite the circumstances, it was nice to be back in the chaos of the first night at Hogwarts.

Slowly the great hall emptied until only Harry, Ginny, Neville and Mcgonagall were left. Harry and Ginny walked up to the high table and embraced Neville and Mcgonagall in turn.

"Neville is going to show you to your room in the Gryffindor tower. The two of you will have a room to yourselves near Neville's. He's going to take you there now, I know the two of you are on some sort of mission but do remember that you are students at this school and will be treated as such."

"Of course" Harry replied and Mcgonagall nodded before excusing herself and sweeping out of the room.

Neville gestured for the two of them to follow him and the three of them walked up the stairs towards the Gryffindor tower.

"Thank you so much for letting us do this," Ginny said sincerely, "we know it's a bit... unorthodox."

Neville snorted "that's one way to look at it. I'm just glad you're really trying to patch things up with Albus."

"How is he?" Harry asked earnestly, "I mean, in the school. We talked to him briefly earlier on the train and he seemed fine, although Scorpius was a bit hostile."

Neville laughed at that, "I'm not surprised. He's fine, very bright. He, Scorpius and Rose are constantly competing for the title of best in the year. He's quite popular among all the houses, he's been a prefect for the past two years and he and Scorpius have founded something like ten different clubs over the years. He and Scorpius also spearheaded the campaign to include sex education and practical skills into the curriculum. Really very impressive."

"What do you mean, you're not surprised?" Harry asked.

Neville stopped walking and turned to face them. "The thing you have to understand about Albus and Scorpius," he said seriously, "is that they're really all the family each other has left. In fact, as far as I can tell, ever since Scorpius's parents kicked them out they've become married in all but name. They rely on each other for everything because they don't have anyone else. Sure they have friends but their friends are just kids, they don't really understand what being rejected by your family is like. They're the only ones who really know what the other has been through and that sort of thing really strengthens a relationship. My guess is that Al was upset and hurt by your unexpected presence on the train and Scorpius was angry at you for making his boyfriend feel that way."

Harry felt sick, "what do you mean when Scorpius's parents kicked them out? When did Scorpius's parents kick them out?"

Neville gave him a strange look, "three years ago, in the summer after their third year, when Scorpius told them he was gay. Did you not know?"

Ginny and Harry both shook their heads, "where have they been living for the past three years?" Ginny asked, her brows drawn together in concern.

Neville sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair, "I don't know. I've tried to get them to tell me and I've offered them a room at the leaky cauldron and in my home but every time I've brought it up they both politely decline. I don't know what else I can do."

Harry turned to Ginny and saw a vaguely horrified expression that he knew mirrored his own. "You're telling us that not only is our son essentially married at the age of 16, to a boy, but both he and that boy are homeless? And they never thought to come to us, he really thought we'd reject him?" Ginny said desperately.

Neville sighed again, "you'd have to ask him about that, but I see no reason he would believe that the two of you would accept him. James and Rose certainly don't, in fact they actively torment both him and Scorpius. The professors have done the best they can to prevent it but it keeps on happening."

Ginny and Harry shared a look in which they silently agreed to have a talk with James and Rose about their behaviour and ensure that both Albus and Scorpius knew that not only were they accepted by Harry and Ginny, but they were also most definitely welcome in their home.

The three of them started back up the stairs in a somber silence. Neville showed them to their room and the two of them got ready for bed in silence. They climbed into bed together and muttered a good night to each other. Both of them were too caught up in their own thoughts and regrets to talk to one another. Harry laid awake staring at the ceiling until he eventually fell into a restless sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to post, exams are killer! I hope to update more regularly soon though. Thank you so much for bearing with the sporadic update schedule and for all of your feedback.

The first week of school was just as hectic as always. Albus and Scorpius were both taking five N.E.W.T. subjects, Life Skills, and one extra-curricular subject a piece. Adding to that Al's headboyship and Scorpius's Quidditch captaincy both of them had full schedules and then some.

When they had been choosing courses the year before all of their friends and a fair number of their teachers had told them they were insane but they hadn't listened. After his first day of classes, however, Al was inclined to agree with them. He loved all the subjects he was taking that year but he did not love the amount of homework his teachers gave him.

On top of all the work he had to do, he also spent a considerable amount of time that first week avoiding his parents. Scorpius kept telling him he was being irrational but every time Al saw either of the adults in the halls he would duck into the nearest classroom or flat out turn around and walk in the opposite direction.

By the time Saturday rolled around Al was already tired of constantly being on guard. He said as much to Scorpius as they were setting up for the LGBTQ+ support group meeting.

"So stop being on your guard," Scorpius replied. Albus shot him a dubious look and Scorpius snorted out a laugh. "I'm serious. Stop avoiding them. It's our last year at Hogwarts, you can't let your parents ruin it. Just ignore them."

"Easy for you to say, your parents wouldn't dream of attending your school for an entire year," Al sniped. A hurt look flashed over Scorpius's face and he quickly turned around and set about rearranging the snacks. Al blew air out through his nose and walked up behind Scorpius and wrapped his arms around Scorpius's waist. "I'm sorry," he said softly, "I didn't mean that. I'm just stressed out and I don't know how to deal with it. Forgive me?"

Scorpius laughed bitterly, "you've nothing to be sorry for, you're right."

Albus nuzzled his face into Scorpius's neck. "I still shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't take out my frustration about this situation on you. It's not fair and I know you're only trying to help."

Scorpius spun around in Albus's grasp and pressed their foreheads together, bringing his arms up and wrapping them around Al's neck. "Apology accepted," he whispered before gently pulling Al into a soft kiss.

They broke the kiss when they heard someone clearing their throat behind them. They turned around to see Violet and the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team standing at the door.

"Wow guys, get a room," Blake Zabini said casually as they waltzed into the room and perched themself on a desk.

"Look who's talking," Leo shot back, collapsing in a chair next to Blake, his best friend. "You and your girlfriend couldn't get a room if your lives depended on it."

"Jealous, Leo?" Andrea, Blake's girlfriend, shot back. "It's not our fault you're bitter and alone." Andrea walked over to where Blake sat and hopped up on the desk next to them, pecking them on the cheek. The rest of the Quidditch team all made their way over and sat around the three of them.

"Well hello to you too," Scorpius said, untangling himself from Albus's embrace and walking over to his team, already engaged in their friendly banter and playful insults.

Albus just laughed and moved to finish laying out the food. Violet joined him and between them they had the classroom set up in no time.

People began to trickle into the classroom. Violet moved to talk to some of the first and second years who were loitering nervously near the doorway. Albus surveyed the room and noticed several of the veteran members of the club had joined the Slytherin Quidditch team's conversation while most of the newer members were sitting around the edges of the room looking around nervously.

Albus shook his head and walked towards the front of the room, smacking Scorpius on the ass as he went. Scorpius looked at him and Albus raised a pointed eyebrow. Scorpius's eyes scanned the room and he shook his head in amusement before murmuring something under his breath to the rest of the people in his conversation.

As one the people Scorpius had been conversing with stood up and each walked over to a group of tentative looking students. As the veteran members of the club began to draw the newer members out of their shells Scorpius walked over to Albus.

"Happy?" Scorpius asked lifting Al's left arm and slotting himself underneath it so that he was cuddled close against Albus's side.

"Ecstatic," Al replied dryly. He scanned the room again, just to be sure no one was being left out, and caught sight of his parents slipping into the room. Al stiffened causing Scorpius to look up. Seeing what had caused his boyfriend's alarm he stroked a hand across Al's back.

Scorpius stretched his head up to Al's ear and whispered, "don't let it bother you. They're just faces in the crowd." He punctuated his point by nipping at Al's earlobe. Albus squeaked and jerked his head away from Scorpius, laughing.

"Hey, lovebirds," Leo yelled across the room, "I hate to break up your nausea inducing moment but we should probably get started."

"Thank you for your suggestion, Leo," Albus shot back without even looking around. "Next time please respect the suggestion box system, if I recall correctly it was your idea." There was scattered laughter from around the room and a loud oooohhhhhhh coming from some of the seventh years.

"In all seriousness, Leo's right." Albus said once the noise had died down. "If everyone could find a seat we'll get started." There was some shuffling and scraping chairs as everyone sat down. Harry and Ginny sat somewhere near the middle of the room. Everyone who knew about the Potter family conflict (Read: Everyone) flicked their eyes between Albus and his parents.

Albus sighed and Scorpius gave him a sympathetic look. "Alright everyone!" Albus began, and immediately winced at the forced cheerfulness of his own voice. He took a deep breath and tried again. "Welcome to the first meeting of the LGBTQ+ support club. My name is Albus Potter and this is my boyfriend Scorpius Malfoy. We are the heads of the club this year."

Albus paused for breath and Scorpius picked up the speech without missing a beat. "Some housekeeping things to go over before we get started. This is a safe space, we do not tolerate any mocking or bullying. Everyone is welcome regardless of gender or orientation. This is a place to explore your own identity and learn about the LGBTQ+ community as a whole without fear or judgment. This is a non-negotiable policy an we do enforce it."

"That being said," Albus retook the speech, "we want everyone to have fun. There will always be food provided and you can help yourselves at any time. We meet on Saturdays in this classroom, meetings are generally an hour but have been known to run much longer." There were several snickers from people who had been in the club for the great marathon debate of 2022, which lasted for an entire four day weekend.

"Today is just an introductory meeting. You are of course under no obligation to attend another meeting and anyone can join the club at any time. Are there any questions?"

A couple of younger students had questions about meeting times and obligations which Albus and Scorpius took turns answering. Once the housekeeping details had been taken care of they went around the room, everyone sharing their name, pronouns, year, and favourite word.

As the introductions passed through his friends, Albus tuned them out in favour of watching his parents, both of whom were looking perplexed by the meeting. Scorpius noticed his boyfriend's distraction and discreetly elbowed Albus in the side, bringing his attention back to the group as the introductions came to a close.

After the introductions were finished Albus and Scorpius gave everyone a crash course in common terminology and general history of the LGBTQ+ community, taking up the rest of the club time.

"I know this meeting was a bit of a lecture, but we promise it's not usually like this." Scorpius said at the end of the hour, "usually it's much more of a discussion but those discussions are much easier to have when everyone has at least a basic understanding of the topics, don't you think?" There was a general murmur of agreement.

"See you all next week. Scor and I will be staying in this classroom for about another half hour, and if anyone has any questions or just wants to chat we are completely available for that. You can also find us in the halls at any time and, unless we're in a massive hurry, we should be able to answer your questions. Most of the Slytherin Quidditch team is willing to answer your questions as well. See you all next week!" Albus brought the meeting to a close.

Most of the people in the room slowly trickled out, grabbing some snacks for the road and starting conversations with their friends. Al and Scorpius traded smiles when several of those conversations were about the content of their lecture. The Slytherin Quidditch team hung back, already suggesting activities for the rest of the day. There were also the usual couple of first years who shyly asked questions about whatever it was they didn't understand. Both boys did their best to answer their questions and point them to other resources if they didn't have the answer.

All of this was fairly typical of the end of a club meeting, the anomaly came when Albus looked up from answering the question of a tiny girl with wispy blonde hair who spoke so quietly that Al had to ask her to repeat herself three times before he heard the question. He saw Harry and Ginny standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, looking completely out of their depth.

Al caught Scorpius's eye and they had a silent conversation using only their eyebrows, an art they had perfected over the years, which ended in Scorpius very pointedly announcing to their friends that they should go work on Quidditch plays for the year. They all got the hint and mad their way out of the classroom (except for Leo who had to be dragged out by Blake and Andrea as he protested loudly about the amount of food that was still left over).

Soon enough the room was empty save for Al and his parents. They stood in awkward silence for a minute until Al cleared his throat and said, "so, what did you think of the meeting?"

"It was certainly... interesting," Harry replied, clearly struggling for an adjective.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Albus asked, defensively.

"Nothing, Honey. It's just a lot to take in." Ginny jumped in before Harry could put his foot farther into his mouth. "I mean, we only just found out you were gay and now we find out you're involved in all of this politics?"

"First of all, I'm not gay, I'm asexual." Albus said, offended, "secondly, it's not my fault you weren't interested enough to ask anyone about me for five years and finally this isn't politics. This is education and it makes all the difference to someone who might feel alone, so you don't get to..." Albus stopped talking abruptly just as he was about to start a tirade.

Albus took a deep breath and began to speak again, much more calmly. "Sorry, I have a tendency to only hear one side of what people say. It's something I'm working on. I just believe so strongly in the good that having support clubs like this one can do."

Harry and Ginny looked fairly stunned. "You're asexual? But... you have a boyfriend," Ginny said after a moment.

"I know you know this, we just went over it half an hour ago. I'm homoromantic and asexual. I don't feel sexual attraction to anyone but I'm romantically attracted to boys, such as my boyfriend." Albus explained, a little disappointed that that was what his parents had pulled out of his outburst but still willing to educate them.

"Scorpius is gay though? Homosexual I mean," Harry asked.

"Yes," Al replied.

"So what do you do about, you know... sex?" Harry asked awkwardly, "I mean, Scorpius has needs right?"

"That's really none of your business." Albus responded angrily, "our sex life is between Scorpius and myself and you really don't have a right to ask me about it."

"Albus, Honey, your father didn't mean anything by that. We're just trying to understand the important relationships in your life." Ginny said in what was probably supposed to be a soothing tone.

"Well maybe he should educate himself by, I don't know, listening to the informational presentation Scorpius and I spent an hour delivering before you make ignorant assumptions about my sex life which is absolutely none of your business." Albus replied, deadly calm.

Harry and Ginny didn't seem to know how to respond to that and Albus didn't give them a chance to. He pulled out his wand and silently cast a charm which put the potions classroom to rights and packed up all the food, stacking it neatly on one of the desks. Al stowed his wand, picked up the food and walked out of the classroom. The door banged shut behind him leaving Harry and Ginny standing in the middle of an empty classroom with the distinct feeling that they had just monumentally screwed up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for homophobic language.

The next couple of months passed similarly. Albus went out of his way to avoid his parents and they went out of their way to seek him out. Scorpius continued to encourage Albus to talk to his parents, leading to several loud fights between the two of them. Everyone else decided that it was best to stay as far away from the whole situation as possible.

The only times that Albus found it impossible to avoid his parents were during classes. Harry and Ginny seemed to have intentionally chosen their classes so that Albus was in them which annoyed him to no end.

About three weeks into term Professor Price, the potions professor, ended a class with the statement, "that's a wrap for today everyone. Don't forget that your essays on the history and use of an ingredient of your choice are due next class. Mr. Potter, I need to speak to you after class. Dismissed."

Albus looked up amid the commotion of bags being packed, "which Mr. Potter, Professor?" He asked, raising his voice above the din.

"Both of you," Professor Price replied.

Albus and Scorpius shared a surprised look. "I'll wait for you outside," Scorpius said. He stood up, slung his bag over his shoulder, pecked Albus on the lips and squeezed his shoulder, "it'll be fine."

Albus gave Scorpius a dubious look but slung his own bag over his shoulder and made his way to the front of the class just the same. Harry did much the same thing and soon the two of them were standing in front of Professor Price's desk, the three men the only ones in the room.

"I know that both of you are probably eager to get to lunch, so I'll keep this brief. Albus, I would like you to tutor the elder Mr. Potter in potions." Professor Price got straight to the point.

Albus raised a disbelieving eyebrow and was about to ask Price if he was sure but Harry beat him to it. "Sebastian..." Professor Price raised an eyebrow at Harry, "sorry. I meant Professor," Harry quickly corrected himself. "Professor, I really don't think that's necessary. I'm certain that I can manage on my own."

"I know you're certain, Mr. Potter," Price replied, "however I know that certainty to be misplaced. Your grades in my class are dangerously low, if you were any other student I would have insisted you drop the class. As it is, I recognize that you haven't had to study potions in a classroom setting like this for over twenty-five years and I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Albus is one of the most talented potions students that I have ever had the pleasure of teaching. If anyone can help you bring your grades back up it's him."

Harry opened his mouth to protest again but Price held up a hand, "this is not a request Mr. Potter, it's either tutoring or you drop the course. Those are your choices."

Harry clenched his jaw, "thank you, professor. I'll take it into consideration and get back to you." He turned and walked out of the room.

"I think you've offended him," Albus said once the door banged shut behind him.

"It would seem so," Price said. "I'm sorry if this puts you in an awkward position, Al." He said sincerely, "but I meant what I said. You are my best student and I truly believe that you will be able to help him."

"That's okay," Albus replied, "I'm not a fan of the idea but I'll get over it. As long as this isn't some scheme that the two of you have cooked up so that the two of us will start getting along," Albus gave Professor Price a hard look.

Price raised his arms in mock surrender, "I swear it wasn't."

"Hmm," Albus replied noncommittally, "I'm not sure I believe you." Albus sighed, "I'll try and convince him not to drop the class. Is that all, Professor?"

"Yes, it is. But Albus, I know your having a hard time with your parents and your brother being back this year. If you ever want to talk to someone about it, I'm here," Price said sincerely.

"Thank you, Professor," Albus replied, "I'll keep that in mind."

"Good," Price replied, "now go get some lunch."

"See you later," Albus snorted, turning and heading out of the potions classroom.

Scorpius was waiting for him in the hallway, "what happened?" He demanded as soon as he saw Albus, "your dad stormed out five minutes ago! He looked super pissed."

Albus rolled his eyes, "Professor Price wants me to tutor him in potions. Apparently he's not doing to well. He didn't take kindly to the suggestion."

"And you did?" Scorpius asked indignantly, "I've been telling you to spend some structured time with your parents for weeks and you've shut me down every time, but suddenly when Professor Price suggests it you're all for the idea?"

"Of course not!" Albus replied angrily, "I don't like the idea and I really don't want to do it, but Price wasn't asking. I don't have a choice and I've resigned myself to that fact. Don't you dare accuse me of valuing Professor Price's opinion above yours Scorpius, you know me better than that."

Albus turned away but Scorpius grabbed his arm, "wait. I'm sorry, I know you value my opinion. You're just so belligerently against even trying to reconcile with your parents and I honestly can't understand it. Do you have any idea what I would give for either of my parents to even send me a howler?"

Albus turned back around, "of course I do," he replied lowly. "I know exactly how much you want your parents back, and I'm so so sorry that they haven't even tried to get in contact with you. I never meant... I never considered how my relationship with my parents must seem to you. It's just... The first thing they've tried in years to repair our relationship is invading one of the few spaces that I'm supposed to not have to worry about seeing them and somehow they think that magically fixes everything. They're not really trying."

"And you are?" Scorpius asked quietly. "I get why you're angry with them, I really do, but it's been five years. You've changed, and I'm willing to bet that they have too. I think you should at least give them a chance, because you might never get an opportunity like this again."

"You're right," Albus replied, "of course you are. Okay, I'll try."

"You will?" Scorpius asked tentatively.

"I will," Albus replied certainly. "I won't make any promises as to the outcome but I promise to at least extend an olive branch."

"That's all I'm asking," Scorpius replied.

"Come on," Albus said, taking his boyfriend's hand. "Let's go to lunch and I'll try to convince my dad to be tutored instead of dropping the class.

\- - - - - - - - - -

The two of them made their way to the Great Hall together. As soon as they got to the doors Scorpius headed off to the Slytherin table while Albus approached his parents where they were seated in the middle of the Gryffindor table with James and Lily.

"Hey," Albus said, coming to a stop behind his parents. They both twisted around, not even bothering to hide the surprise on their faces when they saw who was behind them.

"Hello," Harry replied belatedly.

"I wanted a word with you, about what Professor Price wanted to talk to us about?" Albus said, realizing suddenly that he was unexpectedly nervous in the face of his entire family staring at him like he had grown a second head or something.

"Of course," Harry replied, "go ahead."

"I don't think you should drop the class," Albus said. "I mean, I'm perfectly willing to tutor you and it would be a shame if the head Auror couldn't pass NEWT level Potions."

"Alright," Harry replied, clearly surprised. "If you're sure that you're willing I'll tell the Professor that I've decided not to drop the class."

"I'm sure," Albus replied. "I was thinking we could do tutoring in the library on Saturday mornings at ten, if that works for you?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Harry replied, "I'll see you then."

"Bring your completed essay and your potions textbook, I'll meet you at one of the desks behind the Asian Runes section," Albus said. Harry nodded and Albus turned to go.

"Wait, what's going on?" James asked, "what are you talking about, Dad failing NEWT Potions?

Albus squeezed his eyes shut and turned back around, "after class today Professor Price asked me to tutor Dad in Potions. It was either that or he drop the course," he explained.

"You're such a liar," James snorted.

"James!" Ginny exclaimed, scandalized.

"No he is," James insisted, "like the Head Auror, who also happens to be the savior of the wizarding world would need to be tutored in potions by a seventeen year old Hogwarts student. I don't know how he did it but he's clearly convinced Professor Price to tell Dad he needs to be tutored as some kind of crazy power trip."

"I did no such thing," Albus replied, his voice deadly calm, his hands fisted at his sides.

"Yes you did," James replied standing up, "it's so obvious. You may have everyone else here fooled but I'm on to you. I know exactly what you're up to."

Albus took a deep breath, "believe whatever you want, James." He turned around and started making his way towards the Slytherin table.

"I bet you sucked his dick," James yelled after him. The entire hall fell completely silent as everyone turned to stare at the two brothers.

"Excuse me?" Albus said, turning back around, his voice steely.

"You heard me," James replied. "Everyone knows that all the Professors love you, especially Price. I bet it's because you go to the staff room and suck all their dicks. Your a pervert, it's what you do."

"Detention for a month, and twenty points from Gryffindor," Albus replied.

"You can't do that!" James yelled indignantly.

"Actually James, I think you'll find that I can," Albus replied, keeping his voice low and calm. "I'm head boy and you are very clearly in violation of the schools anti-bullying policy. So, detention for a month and twenty points from Gryffindor."

"You pole-smoking freak!" James screeched, he took out his wand, pointed it at Albus and yelled _Sectumsempra_.

Albus recognized the cutting curse almost immediately and threw his hands up in front of his face yelling, _Protego_.

The cutting curse was stopped by Albus's shield charm and James was momentarily stunned but recovered quickly, preparing to send another curse towards his brother. Half the hall was on their feet, the entire place in chaos.

_Expelliarmus_! _Petrificus Totalus_! Albus yelled in quick succession before James had a chance to say another word. James's wand went flying across the room and all of his limbs snapped to his body. James started to topple over and Albus cast one final spell, _Molliare_ , to soften the floor so that he wouldn't hurt himself.

James toppled over and landed unharmed on the cushioned floor. The entire hall was in chaos, people running away from the two brothers, screaming, food flying everywhere. The teachers at the head table all seemed frozen with surprise. Albus jumped onto the nearest table and pulled out his wand, sending a volley of sparks towards the ceiling, creating a loud boom. Everyone in the hall flinched and fell silent.

Albus cast a megaphone charm and held his wand to his throat. "Everybody please calm down. Everything is fine. I'm okay, James is okay. There is absolutely no need to panic," He said in a calm voice.

This seemed to shake the teachers out of their reverie. Professor McGonagall stood up and cast a megaphone charm of her own, telling the student body to follow their prefects back to their common rooms, the Potter family, with the exception of Lily, was to stay put.

There was a bit of chaos but eventually the prefects and teachers managed to organize the students and get them out of the great hall. Albus had jumped down off the table to help with the effort.

Violet had lingered in the hall for as long as she could but eventually McGonagall had forced her to head back to her common room. Scorpius had also lingered and there was no forcing him to leave. As soon as the hall had been cleared of students he was by Albus's side, checking him all over for injuries. Albus let him, knowing that if he couldn't see for himself that Albus was unhurt Scorpius would never stop worrying.

Once he seemed satisfied that Albus was alright Scorpius pulled away from his boyfriend. "Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall said, "you need to return to your common room now.

"No," Scorpius replied, turning to face the professor.

"Excuse me?" Professor McGonagall said.

"I said no," Scorpius replied, "all due respect Professor but I'm the closest thing Albus has to family these days and I'm not leaving him in a situation like this without a support system. Punish me if you like, but I'm staying."

Professor McGonagall searched Scorpius's face and apparently decided that he was serious enough that she dropped the subject. Albus and Scorpius walked over to join the rest of the Potters at the Gryffindor table. At some point during the chaos someone had un-hexed James and he was seated across from his parents looking positively mutinous.

"I hope that the two of you understand that what happened today was completely unacceptable." Professor McGonagall started.

Albus nodded mutely but James opened his mouth, "it's his fault. He can't give me detention or take away house points, especially not because I hurt his feelings," he sneered.

"Actually Mr. Potter, as head boy Albus does have the authority to both give and take house points as well as give students detention. He always has to report his reasoning but he has the authority," McGonagall replied. "And having witnessed the incident for which he was trying to punish you I feel that the punishment he gave you was completely reasonable."

"Oh, sure, take the freak's side," James muttered under his breath.

Ginny opened her mouth to scold her son but Albus beat her to the punch. "Why do you hate me so much?" He asked, "seriously, what have I ever done to you?"

"What did you do?" James roared back, "you betrayed this family is what you did. You chose to be sorted into Slytherin of all houses and then, as if that weren't bad enough, you made friends with a Malfoy." He said 'Slytherin' and 'Malfoy' as though he were talking about some particularly disgusting slime. "Then, to make matters even worse, you started shagging him! You are a disgrace to the Potter name, you don't even deserve to have Mom and Dad try to win back your forgiveness. Everything that has gone wrong in our family is your fault! It always has been."

"No it isn't James," Albus replied sadly. "Yes, I left the family when I was twelve but it had been building for a really long time. I was never the favourite child, that was always either you or Lily. I was just the middle Potter kid, there wasn't anything special about me until I got sorted into Slytherin and became friends with Scorpius."

"That's not true," Ginny said desperately.

"Isn't it?" Albus asked, "when I was a kid I was quiet, I know that. I never demanded as much attention or caused as much trouble as James and Lily and as a result you never paid as much attention to me. I understand that, I really do. But even when it came to things like special treats or birthday presents you never had any clue about what I like at all. You know how Dad always used to take the family to a special location on our birthdays?" Ginny and Harry nodded, "for me it was always the zoo. I hated the zoo, all the big animals used to scare me and James and Lily would go running off screaming and causing havoc so you never even noticed. I used to beg you not to take us, every year I would tell you I hated it, but you never took any notice. You used to buy presents for James and Lily on my birthday too. Not intentionally, I don't think you meant to, but you never had a clue what I might want so you just got stuff that you knew at least one of your kids would like. You never even asked what I wanted for my birthday. I know those seem like stupid little things in the grand scheme of it but it kept happening year after year and eventually all the stupid little things turned into you hating my best friend. The only person at Hogwarts who actually stood by me and accepted me for what I was from day one. A Slytherin Potter."

Albus took a deep, shuddering breath and it was clear to Scorpius that he was fighting off tears. Scorpius took Albus's hand under the table and squeezed it reassuringly, Al offered him a small smile in return. "All this to say that I didn't actually change when I arrived at Hogwarts," Albus continued, "it's just that you could all finally see who I had always been and for some reason you hated him. So no, James, I didn't betray the family, the family betrayed me."

There was silence in the Great Hall, no one knowing how to respond to Albus's speech. "I'm sorry," Ginny said after a long time, tears building in her eyes, "we had no idea. We didn't notice. Merlin, how did we not notice? I'm so sorry Albus."

"It's okay, Mom," Albus replied quietly.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, "I don't mean to interrupt this eye opening family conversation but there is still the matter of the fight that happened. We have a strict no magic between classes policy so I'm sorry Albus but I'm going to have to give you a week of detention and take ten points from Slytherin." Albus nodded his head in acceptance.

"James, you have seriously violated our anti-bullying policy." McGonagall turned to James, "you cannot under any circumstances verbally or magically assault another student, both of which you did. You are fortunate that Albus is skilled at wand-less magic or you could have seriously injured him. Not only that but you endangered everyone around him as well as making every single gay student in this school feel bad about themselves. On top of the month of detention and twenty points that Albus took away from you you will be assisting Professor Price on the weekends for the rest of the year and another fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."

James opened his mouth looking angry again but McGonagall silenced him with a severe look, "you need to grow up James. What happened today is absolutely unacceptable. You should have graduated last year but you spent your time messing around instead of studying and so you're one of very few students in Hogwarts history who has needed to repeat a year. That is not something to be proud of and it will adversely affect your career for the rest of your life. Your last name will only get you so far, I hope that Professor Price can help you see that."

James crossed his arms and started to sulk. "May we please be excused, Professor?" Scorpius asked after a moment.

"As soon as the great hall is clean and put to rights, you are all free to go," Professor McGonagall replied, "I'll leave you to it." She turned and exited the room, leaving the five of them sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"Come on, Al," Scorpius said as soon as she had left the room, "let's head out." Albus nodded and stood up, allowing Scorpius to lead him towards the doors of the Great Hall.

"You can't leave yet!" James called out triumphantly, "the Hall's not clean, you'll get in trouble."

Without looking back Scorpius pulled out his wand and waved it in a complex pattern over his shoulder. The room immediately started to put itself to rights, furniture flipping over and dishes flying back into place. The food on the floor peeled itself off and deposited itself in the trash. Mops appeared and flew across the floor, removing any trace of the chaos that had happened only hours prior.

The three Potters stared after the couple, dumbfounded as the two of them walked out, Scorpius's arm around Albus's shoulders as the black haired young man leant against his boyfriend for support.

"We really messed up, didn't we?" Harry asked as the two of them disappeared from view.

"Yeah, we did," Ginny replied. The melancholy in his parents voices made James's snarky comment die on his lips.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the long hiatus. I hope this fluffy chapter makes up for it somewhat. I can't promise a better posting schedule in the future but I hope you'll bear with me. 
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

Scorpius lead Albus down to the Slytherin dorms. When the entered the common room what seemed like the entire house immediately started to bombard them with questions. Albus, who hadn't spoken since they left the Great Hall, shrank further into himself. Scorpius pulled him impossibly closer and moved through the crowd, doing his best to ignore everyone.

Fortunately their friends noticed that neither of them looked happy or comfortable and they intervened, waving off the rest of the house and clearing a path for the two of them to get to the stairs. Scorpius shot them a grateful look and hustled Albus up the stairs.

The head boy and head girl of Hogwarts were given private rooms in their respective dormitories because their responsibilities often meant that they were coming and going at odd hours and the teachers had decided long ago that it was easier if they could do that without disturbing any of their room mates. Scorpius and Albus shared the private room, a fact that they hid from most of the rest of the house. Scorpius's roommates knew and so did several of their close friends but they tried not to advertise the fact, lest the teachers decide it was inappropriate for them to share a room and force Scorpius to move back into his original room.

Scorpius quickly unlocked their door and closed it securely behind him. "I'm so sorry," he whispered softly, pulling Albus in for a tight hug.

"Don't be," Albus replied, his voice hoarse. "I really don't want to talk about it right now. Can we just snuggle in bed?"

"Of course," Scorpius replied. He let go of Albus and the two of them silently went through their bed time routine. While Albus took a shower Scorpius pulled out a couple of fuzzy blankets, a fluffy towel, some of Albus's boxers, and two pairs of comfy flannel pajama pants. He dropped the towel, boxers and one of the pairs of pants outside of the shower and changed into his own. Went out to the bedroom, creating a nest of fuzzy blankets and soft pillows for the two of them to curl up in when Albus was ready to come out of the shower.

It took Albus almost half an hour to turn off the shower and come out of the bathroom. Albus padded towards the bed in his pajama pants, his skin still slightly damp. He crawled into the warm nest next to Scorpius and pulled the blankets over his body. He snuggled up to Scorpius's side, hooked one of his legs over top of Scorpius's, wrapped an arm around Scorpius's torso and rested his head over Scorpius's heart.

"Read to me?" Albus asked quietly.

"What do you want me to read?" Scorpius asked, equally quietly.

"I don't care," Albus replied, "I just don't want to have to focus on my thoughts."

"Okay," Scorpius replied. He leaned over the side of the bed and grabbed the first book his hand landed on, which turned out to be a copy of _A History Of Magic_. He hauled the book up onto the bed and lit the lantern on their bedside table. Scorpius lifted his knees up and propped the book up against them. He used one arm to flip the pages and curled the other one around Albus, combing his fingers soothingly through his boyfriends hair.

Scorpius started to read aloud. The soothing monotony of his voice and the warm comfort and familiarity of cuddling with his boyfriend soothed Albus and he slowly started to drift off to sleep.

\- - - - - - - - - -

Albus was awoken by somebody knocking on the door. Scorpius had switched out _A History of Magic_  for his Ancient Runes homework and was quietly making notes, his hand still running through Albus's hair.

Albus groaned, "how long have I been asleep?" He asked, burying his face into Scorpius's chest.

"Several hours," Scorpius chuckled, "you really need to get more sleep, Al."

"Yes, Dear," Albus replied, rolling his eyes.

Whoever was on the other side of the door knocked again, more insistently this time. "Who is it?" Scorpius called out.

"Truancy officers," a voice shouted back.

Both Scorpius and Albus laughed. "Come in, Blake," Albus yelled.

The door swung open to reveal the entire Slytherin Quidditch team carrying trays full of food. "You both missed dinner, and Al didn't get any lunch," Andrea explained as they came into the room and set the trays down on the desk in the corner. "We figured you could probably use something to eat."

"You guys are my favourites, I'm starving," Albus said, pulling away from Scorpius and crawling out of bed. Scorpius followed his boyfriend and the seven of them set up a picnic in the middle of the room.

It was clear to both Albus and Scorpius that all of their friends were carefully avoiding talking about what had happened in the great hall. They were both content to leave it that way until everyone had finished eating.

At the end of the meal everyone was lying about on the floor of the dorm, feeling full and content. Andrea and Leo were trading good natured barbs back and forth, each trying to one up the other, while everyone else cheered them on.

Just as a cheer went up for one of Andrea's taunts Blake looked over at Albus and Scorpius, the former sitting on the latter's lap. They were in a world of their own, clearly trying to have some sort of private conversation with just their eyes. Blake cleared their throat loudly to get the attention of everyone else in the room. "I think we should go, it's getting late," they announced.

Leo started to protest but was quickly silenced by a harsh look from Blake. They all packed up and began to exit the room, saying goodnight as they filed out of the room. Blake was the last one to leave and before they pulled the door closed behind them they turned back towards the couple on the floor. "I know you don't want to talk about what happened today, and we'll respect that," they said earnestly, "but can I ask if you're okay?"

A smile spread across Albus's face, "yeah, Blake. I'm okay, and even when I'm not I know that I have all of you here to support me. Thank you for that."

Blake's eyes searched his face and eventually they nodded, "we're always around if you want to talk. Have a good night you two."

Albus and Scorpius both said goodnight and Blake pulled the door shut. The room lapsed into a comfortable silence. Scorpius knew Albus well enough to know that he really did need to talk about what happened, but he needed to work up to it on his own.

"I can't believe that James hates me that much," Albus said at length, staring resolutely at the ground. "I mean, I knew that he didn't like me. I just... He hates me. He was willing to seriously injure me for something that happened five years ago. For a perceived slight against the Potter family which I haven't been part of since. And Mom and Dad, they just stood there. Okay, maybe they were shocked and didn't have time to react, but that's how it's always been. James and I get in a fight, Lily is nowhere to be found, and Mom and Dad don't do anything. Did you know that none of them ever noticed why I left? Mom and Dad claim to be here to try and make it right with me and they never even thought about why I left and what their role in it was."

Albus paused and sighed heavily, "it's been five years. I should be over this by now, or at least better at dealing with it." He looked up at Scorpius, "and I feel terrible about complaining to you about this. At least they're trying. Your parents..."

"This isn't about me or my parents," Scorpius said firmly. He reached out and lifted Albus's chin so that they were looking each other in the eyes. "You can't compare your situation to mine. Yes both of our families are kind of disasters and yes we've both got massive issues with our parents not wanting us because of who we are, but the similarities stop there. My parents can't deal with the fact that I'm gay. That's it. I know that they love me otherwise, and maybe one day they'll come to terms with me... with us. Today is not that day. And yes, that hurts, but I'm alright. Who knows if that day will ever come, but if it does I know that you'll be right there to support me. Your familial issues run a lot deeper than mine and you're having to confront them here and now. Don't worry about hurting me with the fact that you're parents are trying to fix your relationship. I just hate the fact that it's hurting you."

Albus smiled softly and moved forwards to press his forehead against Scorpius's. "Thank you. For everything." He gently closed the space between them and the two boys shared a sweet kiss.

"Of course, Al. I love you so much and I'll always be here for you, no matter what." Scorpius murmured when they pulled apart.

"I love you too, more than anything," Albus replied.

Scorpius pulled away from his boyfriend, "not to ruin the moment, but would you like my input on the situation with your family or do you want me to shut up about it?"

Albus snorted, "I'd like your input. Maybe getting another perspective will help."

"It seems like your parents are really trying. Yes they're oblivious and pretty stuck in their ways, but rejecting their attempts without trying to become friendly with them is something I think you'll regret in the long run. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but you won't find out unless you give them a chance. That goes both ways too, you can't expect them to do all the work. You hurt them too, even if they were in the wrong," Scorpius said, watching Albus's reactions carefully.

Seeing no adverse reactions, Scorpius plowed on. "As for James, I don't think he genuinely hates you. He's always been a pretty angry guy and from what I've seen the two of you have never gotten along, but this is the first time he's attacked you. I think that maybe the fact that he got held back and all his friends have graduated, combined with the fact that your parents have been paying so much attention to you since they got here, hell they came here for you, is just making him frustrated. I don't know what you should do about it, but I'm sure he doesn't hate you."

"Ugh, why do you have to be so rational?" Albus groaned. "I can never just be mad at people with you around."

"I hate to break it to you, but that's probably a good thing," Scorpius replied.

"Fine." Al sighed, "I'll extend an olive branch to my family."

"Good choice, Dear," Scorpius replied, petting Al's hair with mock condescension.

"Stop that," Albus pushed Scorpius's hand away and making a face at his boyfriend.

"Don't pretend you don't love it," Scorpius replied. He lifted his hand back up to pat Al on the head again. Albus smacked his hand away again and moved backwards, out of Scorpius's reach. Scorpius lunged forwards in retaliation and the two of them began to wrestle on the floor. Albus eventually gained the upper hand, pinning Scorpius's wrists to the floor. Both of them were laughing, the mood in the room considerably lighter.

"Don't pat me on the head you asshole," Albus managed to get out between giggles.

"I will pat you on the head whenever I feel like it," Scorpius replied, raising a challenging eyebrow, a shit-eating grin fixed firmly on his face. "I'm your boyfriend and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

Al grinned back and transferred both of Scorpius's wrists to one hand. He lifted his now free hand and wiggled his fingers threateningly. "No. No Albus don't you dare," Scorpius warned, squirming against Albus's grip. Al just smiled down at him and began to tickle his boyfriend mercilessly. Scorpius squealed and squirmed, trying to get out from underneath Albus in between bouts of helpless laughter.

Eventually, Scorpius managed to free his hands and push Albus off him. Al went willingly and they lay side by side on the threadbare green and silver rug of the dorm room, breathless from laughter.

After they had both caught their breath, Albus reached out and took Scorpius's hand, squeezing it gently. "Thank you again, I needed today. I really do love you."

Scorpius squeezed his hand in return, "Anytime, Love."

They lay in silence for a few more moments until Scorpius sat up. "As much fun it is to lie on the concrete floor with you, we missed all our classes today. We need to do some homework."

"Uggghhhh" Albus groaned, "I take it back, I hate you. You're the worst person I've ever met in my life."

Scorpius laughed in response as he pulled Albus to his feet, "I love you too." 


	7. Chapter 7

Harry watched Albus and his cousins carefully in the days following the altercation between James and Albus. Now that his eyes had been opened to the hostility that James felt for his younger brother he noticed it in most of the Weasley grandchildren as well. Rose, in particular, seemed to spend a lot of time in the great hall staring angrily at the back of Albus's head as he ate and laughed with his friends.

"Why are Rose and James so angry at Albus?" Harry asked Lily one day after he observed Rose tripping Albus in the hallway.

Lily shrugged, "they think he betrayed them," she said.

"Betrayed them?" Harry asked.

Lily nodded, "James had this vision of him, Albus and Fred being the new Marauders. Albus getting sorted into Slytherin and then befriending Scorpius pretty much blew that up. Not that he would ever have gone for it in the first place, Al's never really enjoyed pranks."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, "Al used to pull pranks all the time. Remember the time he put pink hair dye in our shower? Your mother and I had neon pink hair for weeks!"

Lily gave him a strange look, "Al didn't put hair dye in your shower."

"Yes, he did," Harry insisted.

"No, he really didn't," Lily replied, "James did. Then when he saw how mad you and Mom were he stole Al's notebook and wouldn't give it back until he confessed."

"What?" Harry demanded.

"Yeah, it used to happen all the time," Lily said, "I think James thought that if Al got in trouble for pranks he didn't pull he'd give up and start pulling pranks anyway. Like why get in trouble for something you didn't do when you could get in trouble for something you did. You really didn't know?"

"I had no idea," Harry said, his eyes fixed on his youngest son. "Why didn't Al just tell us James was blackmailing him into confessing?"

"James used to threaten to burn the notebook if he told," Lily explained. "You remember how important that thing was to Al? He never went anywhere without it. I don't know what he would have done if James actually had destroyed it but he was never willing to take the risk."

"None of the pranks Albus confessed to were pranks he actually pulled," Harry said, testing the feeling of the words.

"I thought you had figured it out after he left," Lily said, "do you honestly think the Malfoys would have let someone who turned their hair pink stay in their house for more than five minutes?"

"No, I suppose not," Harry said, ducking his head.

"Honestly," Lily continued, "I think Scorpius is the best thing that ever happened to Al, no matter what Rose says."

"What does Rose say?" Harry asked.

"Basically the same stuff as Uncle Ron," Lily said, "you can't trust a Slytherin, Malfoy's are terrible people and they're just using Al. They've corrupted him. That sort of nonsense. It doesn't make much sense if you think about it for more than half a second but there you go."

"Why does Al avoid all of you if James and Rose are most of the problem?" Harry asked.

"I'm not really sure," Lily said. "He doesn't really actively avoid us, he just doesn't go out of his way to talk to us. I think he doesn't want to get anyone in trouble with the rest of the family. Plus, James has spent so long convincing everyone in the family that Al is something that he isn't, the whole Slytherin thing has just become an indication of how evil he's bound to become."

"Oh," Harry didn't know what to say.

"Yeah," Lily agreed. "I'd better get going, Quidditch practice starts soon. See you around Dad, love you."

"Love you too, Lilybug," Harry replied automatically, his mind still firmly fixed on his sons.

\- - - - - - - - - -

Harry showed up for his first tutoring session with Albus ten minutes early. Albus had apparently shown up even earlier because Harry found him sitting in the library, textbook already open to the chapter on transformative potions. His materials were spread out across the desk an he was scratching out notes on a piece of parchment.

Scorpius sat across the table from his boyfriend, apparently deep in an essay. Both boys looked up when Harry came to a stop in front of their table. "Hello," Harry said, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

"Hi," Albus replied shortly.

Scorpius kicked him under the table and then smiled at Harry, "good morning Mr. Potter. How are you?"

"I'm doing well thank you, Scorpius," Harry replied setting his books down and taking a seat next to his son. "And please, call me Harry."

"Alright, Harry," Scorpius agreed easily. "How's James doing? I can't imagine he's too pleased after that scene in the Great Hall."

"He doesn't seem happy about it," Albus muttered.

"Al," Scorpius sounded exasperated.

Albus sighed, "sorry Dad. It's just been a week, you know? I'm not really in the mood for this." Al waved a hand vaguely in the air to indicate the entire situation.

"I made him promise to be nice," Scorpius informed Harry conspiratorially. "Your son is mean when he's tired."

"Hey!" Al objected.

"Sorry, Honey," Scorpius patted Albus on the hand not looking sorry at all, "but it's true. Don't you remember the aftermath of Great Prank War of fifth year?"

Al groaned, "we agreed never to speak of that again!"

"The Great Prank War of fifth year?" Harry asked.

"There was a giant Gryffindor/Slytherin prank war when we were in fifth year." Scorpius explained, "it got a little out of hand. Albus and I were Slytherin prefects and there was one point at which we got something like ten hours of sleep in a week. Albus was so tired that when a second year came to ask him about whether Ancient Runes was worth taking he bit his head off."

"Don't tell people this story," Albus said, bashing his head gently against his arms where they were folded on the table.

"This story is funny," Scorpius informed his boyfriend unsympathetically. "Anyway, they were alone in a classroom and the first anyone else knows of it the poor boy runs out of the room crying. It took us hours to calm him down enough to find out what happened. None of the second years would go near him after that. It took an entire year before they stopped turning around and walking away whenever they saw him coming."

"That is not true," Al objected.

"It is," Scorpius scoffed, "Dylan Stone, the kid he made cry, still won't get within a hundred feet of you. And he didn't even wind up taking ancient runes."

"Don't you have Quidditch practice?" Albus sniped.

"You're the one who begged me to be here," Scorpius said.

"Well now I'm telling you to go to your Quidditch practice," Albus bit off.

Scorpius rolled his eyes at Harry, "fickle this one." He packed up his books and slung his bag over his shoulder. Dropping a kiss on the top of Al's head Scorpius headed out of the library, "I'll see you at lunch!"

Albus grumbled to himself, pulling the textbook forwards and turning to Harry. "You made a kid cry?" Harry asked, smiling a little.

"It was years ago. I was exhausted and Scorpius and I were newly homeless. I had a right to be upset," Albus snapped. "Can we be done talking about it now?"

"Yeah, of course," Harry said, taken aback by Albus's tone, "sorry."

Albus squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath, "no. I'm sorry. Scorpius is right. I'm mean when I'm tired. Let's just get through this."

"We can postpone this. If you want," Harry said.

"No, the sooner we get your grade up the better," Albus replied, "might as well start now." With that Albus pulled the textbook down so that it was between them and began to explain the importance of using dragon scales in transformative potions.

They made their way through most of the ingredients section of the chapter. Albus explained every concept patiently, answering all of Harry's questions easily. If Al's tone was still frosty and he refused to meet his eyes, Harry wasn't going to say anything. This was the longest and most civil interaction they had had in years.

As they neared the end of the session, Harry found himself with one more burning question that he just couldn't leave alone. "Can I ask you something?" he said cautiously, "you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"This is a tutoring session," Al replied sardonically, "of course I'll answer your question."

"It's not a potions question," Harry watched his son carefully as he said the words, "it's actually more of a personal question."

Albus tensed up slightly but kept his eyes fixed on his textbook as he answered, "you can ask but I'm not promising an answer."

"That's fair," Harry ran a hand through his hair, suddenly unbelievably nervous. "In the great hall the other day, you seemed really upset that none of us ever sought you out before this year. I don't want to imply that you were wrong to be upset because you weren't... But, I guess I was wondering why you never reached out to any of us?"

Albus sighed heavily and glanced up at his father, "honestly? Because Grandma stopped sending me sweaters at Christmas."

"What?" Harry hadn't been expecting that answer at all.

Albus shrugged, staring at a spot to the left of Harry's head, "yeah. The first six months or so after the party I was too angry with all of you to even consider it. By the time I had started to calm down enough that what happened really set in it was already time for the Christmas Hols. I decided to stay here that year because the Malfoys were going to France to visit Mrs. Malfoy's family and I didn't want to impose any more than I already was. There weren't many people staying here that year, and no one I was particularly close to so by the time Christmas Day rolled around I was bored and lonely. I had even written detailed letters of apology to you and Mum that I was going to post when the weather improved, but then I didn't get a sweater."

Albus snorted derisively, "Merlin that makes me sound petty, doesn't it? I never made up with my family because my grandmother didn't make me a sweater at Christmas time. But to me, back then, it felt like the final nail in the coffin. I wasn't a part of the family anymore." Al clenched his jaw and he quickly returned his gaze to his potions textbook, blinking rapidly. "Anyway, that's the reason I never reached out. That and the fact that James and Rose and all the rest never stopped being hostile."

Harry was speechless, "Albus..." he trailed off, no clue what to say next.

"You know, I think that's enough potions for one night," Albus stood abruptly, hastily packing away his books. "We should be moving on to Polyjuice potions next, so you should read that chapter for our tutoring session next week. I know you're pretty familiar with Polyjuice, but it never hurts to brush up. I'll see you here at the same time next week."

Albus hoisted his bag over his shoulder and beat a hasty retreat out of the library. Harry watched him go, realizing for what seemed like the hundredth time that year exactly how much he had failed his middle son.


End file.
